XM, Author at Xingu Mission

We continue to be in “lockdown”. Still no church or large groups are allowed, and the use of masks in public is mandatory; very similar to other countries. Here in Altamira, and throughout Brazil, the cases have continued to increase. The pharmacies do not have the drugs necessary that doctors are prescribing to “combat” the virus. They are prescribing hydroxycloquine, Ivermectin and Azithromycin as first line of defense. One of the biggest problems is that we do not have much testing for the COVID. The test they do have here requires you to have the virus for 8 days to be confirmed. In light of waiting those 8 days to confirm, the doctors are essentially guessing based off of symptoms and prescribing the above medicine. The problem is that it could be just a cold, normal flu, malaria, dengue, or something else. I certainly do not give fault. Everyone is trying to do the best they can with the limited resources at hand. It is our reality at the moment.

For Mother’s day we had a few of our leaders come to the house. We had an online service to share communion and “be with one another”. Before sharing communion we had a time of worship with some of our leaders at the church, and virtual congregation. We look forward to getting past this time and being able to interact with one another in person. Everyone is so excited to see one another even though it is on a screen. The problem is that everyone wants to talk at the same time, and it becomes a mess. Not a bad problem.

We continue to do on-line weekly services and are using social media to maintain contact with our church members and friends for the last couple of weeks. We have been making some home visits. We do this with caution and do our best to respect others space and distance. At the church, we are doing our best to make the worship and sermons pleasing to the Lord, and the best possible experience for the congregation. It seems like it going well, however, it is a lot of work. I have been working so much producing video’s for the church. If you have never had the chance to work on editing a film, let me tell you, it is a long strenuous process. Elba has been doing a series called “A Faith that wins”. She has preached “A faith that leads during difficulties”, “A faith that wins over my weakness”, and “A faith that anchors me”

The girls spend their days doing homeschool via Zoom. It is working well for the time being but I think they would like to be with their classmates in person

Continued prayers request:

· Update: The sale of the property seems to be on hold. We have not heard from the buyers. We understand that with the crisis they have been put in financial stress. I am disappointed, but at the end of the day, God is still on the Throne. Please pray for our buyers financial situation and that we could move forward soon with the sale.

· Please pray for our church, leadership, and congregation that we help people draw close to God as we navigate this time.

· I may have to travel to take someone to a specialized hospital about 2k kilometers away. Please pray for healing for this man, and for safe travels.

Please pray for spiritual, physical, emotional and financial health for us.

Thanks and much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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May, 6

XM

May 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends and Family,

Thank you for your prayers and support. They have been greatly appreciated. I hope you are doing well during these crazy times.

Like many of you, our city of Macapá is pretty much completely shut down because of COVID-19. We have watched the number of people infected go from just a handful to over 1700 confirmed in the last month. Prior to the pandemic, the hospitals here were already overcrowded, so the city is doing its best to try and keep the virus from getting out of control.

Also like many of you, we feel like our rhythm of life has been completely flipped upside down. Because of the virus we have moved all of our church meetings / services to an online format. Denise and I are by no means technically savvy, so this has definitely been out of our comfort zone. Although we would love to get back to normal services, we have found that God is still very active. He has been stretching us, teaching us, and expanding our understanding of church.

Behind the scenes of a “live” online meeting.

Zoom prayer time

Here in Macapá, many are struggling because of the economic shutdown. Vineyard Viva has been doing its best to help those in need. We have been providing food and basic necessities to as many families as we can. We have begun to do a “food drive” every Sunday afternoon at which time members of Vineyard Viva can come drop off food and other things to help those in need. Word has spread throughout our neighborhood of the food drive and we have begun to have neighbors who are not members of our church also contribute to the cause. So far we have helped over 40 families.

Denise preparing our care packages for those in need

Bob Lesher dropping off some items for our Sunday food drive

This last month Jonas had his 2nd birthday. It’s amazing how quickly these first two years passed! We had planned on doing a little party, but that was put on hold until things open back up. Jonas did enjoy a big bowl of cake and ice cream though!

I guess one spoon wasn’t sufficient!

Prayer Requests:

Wisdom to guide the church through this time.
Continued financial provision.
Continued health and safety for our family and church.

Thank you for your prayers and support. They mean so much to us. Please let us know how you are doing. We would love to hear from you.

In His Service,

Christopher & Denise

Contribution Link: https://xingu.org/opportunities/giving/meyer-ministries/

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Apr, 23

XM

Amazon Update – April 2020

Happy Belated Easter. Praise the Lord that He is Risen. Thank you Jesus!!! As I mentioned last month, let’s keep praying to Jesus for His healing upon the world. He is our only hope, especially with so much uncertainty, we need to be the light in this time of darkness. Pray the Lord’s peace and comfort over you during this difficult time. If you need any prayer, please let me know.

During the past month our church family has been trying to adapt to “virtual community” as we make adjustments, along with the entire world, to adapt to this season of social distancing in the wake of COVID19. Given the circumstances, I think we are doing the best job we can with the tools and gifting that the Lord has instilled in us. However, we are still pursuing to do it better and stay connected.

On Easter we felt that it was important to celebrate communion with the church but it was completely different than years past where we had a service at the church, and shared a breakfast. This time we had some of our leaders and their families come to our house, and then we had a Zoom gathering with members of the church. It was not perfect, but we were able to feel a bit more connected to the congregation to celebrate the PERFECT sacrifice of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins, and the resurrection of the Lord from the grave. AMEN!

After the on-line celebration, we enjoyed a breakfast together, and then we had a candy search in the backyard. This was nice, as this brought some normalcy to our situation.

We have been doing on-line weekly services and are increasingly trying to use social media to maintain contact with our church members and friends for the last couple of weeks. We are doing our best to make the worship and sermons pleasing to the Lord, and the best possible experience for the congregation. It seems like it going well. Below are some pictures of the production. We have been working twice as hard as before trying to learn the technologies. Elba goes over and over her messages throughout the week in preparation for Sunday. It is whole different dynamic preaching to a camera, than to a congregation.

We just started back up our men´s prayer group on Thursday morning at 6am. It is a small group of men and it was really nice to be together and pray to Jesus to intercede for the church, the things going on in our lives, as well as the lives of others. As you will notice we are trying to get together and pray in a reasonably safe way.

One of the other big highlights this month was the celebration of Camilly´s 15^th birthday. The 15^th birthday for a girl in Brazil is HUGE. I read that “In Brazil it is widely celebrated among Brazilians, the quinceañera marks an important milestone in a girl’s life. Part birthday party, part rite of passage, it symbolizes a girl’s entrance into womanhood when turning 15 showcasing her purity and readiness for marriage.” Yes, to the purity, but the readiness for marriage…at the age of 15….let’s put that on the back burner until she finishes college. Well, whatever they say, we know that we are very proud of the beautiful woman that Camilly is becoming. She is a treasure and a true gift from God. Personally, seeing her all dressed up, and looking way older than 15, I was taken aback. It is going way too fast. We did our best to respect the gathering rules in place. Camilly only got to invite a handful of her friends. Even though it was limited, we really pray that she enjoyed every moment. We are very proud of her.

Continued prayers request:

· Update: Thanks everyone for your prayers on the sale of the property. We are in the process of working through the language for the contract. This is positive and we are thankful to God. Since there is a financial crisis in Brazil due to the virus, the buyers are asking that we be patient. So, I come to you again, and ask that you continue to pray for this to be finalized in its entirety, and that all parties will feel good about the whole process up to the completion of purchase and thereafter.

· Please pray for our church, leadership, and congregation that we help people draw close to God as we navigate this time.

Please pray for spiritual, physical, emotional and financial health for us.

Thanks and much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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XM

Amazon Update March 2020

We are in quarantine. We started our travels 2 weeks ago to minister to the Recife church leadership, and then to Joao Pessoa to have a 3 day missionary care retreat. So much can change in a two week stretch. On the way back home, we had two airline cancellations which forced us to travel by bus, and then finally, we rented a car to come home. We are glad to be home, and the city has dramatically changed normal daily life. There are no cases of the virus here. Since the city only has 7 ventilators it does not want to be overrun by the virus. It is also really hitting the people hard financially. Thanks for your prayers. We are praying for the world.

Reflection: I was asking God during prayer, why this was happening. I felt like I got the response “it is so nice to hear from my people”. Let’s keep praying.

All of our missionaries were able to attend the missionary care and we were very grateful despite the virus. Our main speaker was not able to physically attend the missionary care due precautions around the virus, but we are grateful for technology. We were able to use video and it work out really well. One of the teachings was on disorder detachments and we were posed with a bunch questions for reflection, like:

What might our attachments be?

Ø What consumes my thoughts and plans?

Ø What holds my allegiance?

Ø Who or what tells me who I am?

Ø What gives me security and comfort?

Ø What makes me feel whole and complete?

Ø Who/What meets my deepest needs?

Ø Etc.

Prayer for detachment

(Based on a prayer of Peter Faber, 1506-46)

I beg of you, my Lord,

to remove anything which separates

me from you, and you from me.

Remove anything that stands in the way of

my seeing you, hearing, tasting, savoring, and touching you;

reverencing and being mindful of you;

knowing, trusting, loving, and possessing you;

being conscious of your presence

and, as far as is possible, enjoying you.

This is what I ask for myself

and earnestly desire from you. Amen.

This will be a good exercise for me to continue, and maybe you, as we continue to walk out this life on earth.

It is always so nice to be with our missionaries to reconnect. All of us live far from one another and being together was very encouraging and life giving. The Bouthillier family still has not made it home due to travel restrictions. Please pray that God will open up a way for them to get home safely, and protection over their health.

At the church, before social isolation, we were able to have a couples dinner for the church. The entrance fee was to bring some food for all to enjoy. Pr. Kinin came and shared with his wife Rosie. The time was really special for all the couples. As you may know, with the busyness / demands of life, it is sometimes difficult to separate time to be with your spouse. We are very grateful that the couples were afforded this opportunity. We were blessed that the youth of the church served the couples their dinners.

The girls got to participate in their first Cristoval. It was three days, and two night of being with the Lord, and their friends. They had a great time. As I have shared before, Carnival is Brazil’s annual “celebration of the flesh”. It’s a week-long party where “anything goes” and almost every city in the country shuts down allowing full participation by the people. The Igreja da Vinha combined efforts many years ago to begin “Cristoval”, a retreat for youth, away from the city, with a focus on Jesus and having a lot of good clean fun (other than the mud obstacle course, Alyssa participated…not so clean). It has been a great success to redirect the youth’s energy towards God instead of the temptations of the world and drawing kids toward Jesus. During the three day retreat, the youth had opportunity to connect with Jesus through lively worship and dynamic teaching. Elba had the privilege to preach one of the nights.

We have an update, and continued prayers request:

· Update: Thanks everyone for your prayers on the sale of the property. We are in the process of working through the language for the contract. This is positive and we are thankful to God. Since there is a financial crisis in Brazil due to the virus, the buyers are asking that we be patient. So, I come to you again, and ask that you continue to pray for this to be finalized in its entirety, and that all parties will feel good about the whole process up to the completion of purchase and thereafter.

· Please pray for our church, leadership, and congregation that we help people draw close to God as we navigate this time.

Please pray for spiritual, physical, emotional and financial health for us.

Thanks and much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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XM

Amazon Update February 2020

Michael Hansen, the Lead Pastor in Delaware County, and Derek Blaylock, a Vineyard Pastor out of San Antonio Texas, came for a short visit. They came and visited some of our bases located in Macapá, Pacajá, and Altamira. About 20 years ago, God put Brazil on Derek’s heart and he has been praying for Brazil ever since. This was his first time visiting Brazil and it was such a joy to witness what God was doing in him. Please pray for Derek to get more clarity on their call to be missionaries in Brazil.

Michael did a leadership night at our church. He was really impressed with the amount of young leaders we have here in Altamira. He focused his teaching on how to construct a sustainable spiritual life in your marriage, family, and ministry. During his talk he shared the following which was impactful. “To be healthy as leaders we need to be alert to the enemy’s subtle attacks, leaders must expect to be attacked, they should never be surprised or afraid…. leaders must maintain an attitude of humility, always recognizing what is our part in the Kingdom work. We must have humility to recognize our limitations, because what we have to give will always seem small, and at times feel insignificant compared to the size of the need. But it is all that God wants from us, so we need to know that we are loved, that the Father loves us not for what we do, not for our skills, nor for our “great achievements”, He loves us because we are his sons and daughters, it is from this place of love that we must lead.”

At the church we also held a new members class. We had 25 new people become members of the church. Praise God! During the class they learn about the church, our history, beliefs, and ministries. After the several hour class, many members of the church pitched in to cook and bring food so that we could have lunch together with the new members.

That same night we had 4 people get baptized. It was emotional for the ones being baptized into a new life with Christ. During the baptism we had great worship and lots of people press up to get a front row seat. Especially the kids. They want to be right there.

Please pray for spiritual, physical, emotional and financial health for us.

Thanks and much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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Feb, 12

XM

February 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends and Family,

Denise and I want to first-off say thank you to everyone who made our time in the U.S.A. such an encouragement. Your love and generosity blessed us greatly. We love our home church in the States and definitely feel the support that we so desperately desire.

We arrived back in Macapá just over 5 weeks ago. It has been a whirlwind since we got home. On our way home to Brazil, I began to get sick with the flu. It was the worst flu I have ever experienced. For the first 10 days here in Brazil I barely left my bed… Not exactly what I had in mind for our first weeks back, but in many ways it was good for me. God was speaking to me the whole time. I left the States with so much excitement, with many new ideas, and was ready to hit the ground running. The first few days I felt extremely discouraged, but God kept reminding me that ministry is a marathon, not a sprint, and that everything would work in his timing. It was good for me to let go and release everything to him. I also am so thankful for Denise who took care of me – and Jonas – while also adjusting to being back in Brazil. I really lucked out in the wife department! Many people were curious about how Jonas would do with our transition back to Brazil. He did great. He didn’t skip a beat, almost as if he was never gone. It is amazing how adaptive children can be.

Jonas loves our cat, “Lucy”. Not sure how Lucy feels about Jonas.

Jonas practicing for the worship band.

Jonas doesn’t know what to think of the new baby in the church.

Once I began to feel better, we began to work through getting things reorganized, implementing a few new ideas that God placed on our hearts, and connecting with the individuals in the church. Presently we are so excited for what God is doing in Vineyard Viva. There seems to be a tangible excitement that can be felt throughout the congregation.

This month we also had some special visitors. Michael Hansen, the Lead Pastor at my home church in Delaware County, and Derek Blaylock, a Vineyard Pastor out of San Antonio Texas, came for a short visit. Our time with them was great. While they were here we did leadership training, worship team training, they also participated with our homeless outreach ministry, and Derek preached at our Sunday service. We also did a baptism after the service.

Service last Sunday

During the service

Denise translating for Derek

Getting ready for baptisms

Baptisms

Homeless outreach ministry

Jonas shares a love for Bert’s Bees with Michael

About 20 years ago, God put Brazil on Derek’s heart and he has been praying for Brazil ever since. This was his first time visiting Brazil and it was such a joy to witness what God was doing in him. Derek was so moved to be around the people that he had been praying for since his early adulthood. He was often overwhelmed to the point of tears by God’s faithfulness in connecting him here, and that a visit had finally come to fruition.

A Prayer Request:

We have been praying about whether we should go to two services. This last week while Michael and Derek were at the church, we had around 80 people (including children). Although our numbers were higher because of the baptism and the guest speakers, we feel like the writing is on the wall. We are running out of space in our little church. What a great problem to have! We are not quite at the place where we could move to a larger location, so going to two services might be our best option. The practice of multiple church services is not extremely common here in Brazil, so we really need God’s direction in this area.

Thank you for your prayers and support. We love hearing from you!

In His Service,

Christopher and Denise

Contribution Link: https://xingu.org/opportunities/giving/meyer-ministries/

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XM

November 2019 Amazon Update!!!

Elba and I were honored again to have another baptism at the church. The church gets so excited for baptisms. During our baptism the worship band was playing and singing, and lots of people run to the front to get a better view and pictures. I know I have mentioned this many times, but I love the symbolism of letting the person be completely immersed in water, being baptized into Jesus’ death on the cross and no longer being slaves to self or sin. When they are raised out of the water they are raised into a new life in Christ and are with Him forever. We are so grateful and we praise the Lord for these 9 people that made this public declaration of faith. Each of the people being baptized wore a shirt saying “I Decided”.

We had a women’s gathering at the church called “Cha de Rosa”, or pink tea. The women in the church really worked hard to make this a beautiful and special moment for our guests. The youth served a small meal while the women were enriched by the guest speaker. The guest speaker was a psychologist in the city and she talked about emotional and mental health.

Not to be too outdone. While traveling to Joao Pessoa, and Recife. Marsha Wilson, and Elba participated in another “Cha de Rosa” for the women at the Cabo church. The women really enjoyed Elba and Marsha’s visit to pray, encourage and bless.

We had a children’s day celebration. This is a National holiday and there is no school, and government and private businesses close. It is a big deal. This year we used the mission property to celebrate the occasion. Camilly and Alyssa helped with the celebration. They played lots of games, including water balloon fights, which Camilly assisted. Alyssa colored the children’s faces. The kids ate lots of sweets and hot dogs. It was a good time for the children in the neighborhood…I think also for the adults.

We do have prayer requests and humbly ask you to pray for us:

1. For Steve’s trip to Humaita to visit a church planting team. It will take 2 ½ days to get there by truck. Please pray for safety, guidance, peace, and wisdom.

2. Elba just started getting a migraine again after almost a year without them. Please pray for healing. Below is a picture of children from our church family in Recife praying for Elba

Please pray for spiritual, physical, emotional and financial health for us.

Thanks and much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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Aug, 16

XM

August 2019

Dear Friends & Family,

I wanted to give everyone a heads up that Denise, Jonas and I will be back on furlough starting in September. We are so excited to share everything that God has been doing here in Macapá! We are also excited for everyone to meet Jonas!

If you are a small group leader and would like for us to visit and share at your group, just drop me an email. I would absolutely love the opportunity! I am going to start scheduling things now. I made the mistake a few years back of waiting and found myself scrambling to try and fit everything in at the tail end of our trip. I am determined not to make that same mistake!

Since we will be back in a few weeks, I will save a detailed account of what is going on here to tell you in person, but things are going great here in Macapá. Our church is doing well as we continue to mature. Our family is thriving, too. Jonas is growing and changing every day!

We had a visit from Denise’s family.

A little boat trip with friends.

Some pics of Jonas

Please pray safe travel for us and for the church and leaders during our time on furlough.

We appreciate you all and are looking forward to seeing you all!

In His Service,

Christopher and Denise

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XM

July 2019 Amazon Update!!!

Thank you so much for your prayers for the National Conference that was held at our church. It was a lot of work to make this event happen, but in the end, it was great. I believe we had over 300 people in attendance. This was a chore as many of them came from out of town and we had to organize their housing, and meals.

We were blessed to have our Pastors, Rich and Marlene Nathan from Vineyard Columbus come and teach our group. Marlene shared about women in leadership to women leaders, and Rich taught our group various subjects such as:

· Helping your church to Grow by Becoming More Invitational
· Constructing a more integral church
· Why the Vineyard Church must not stop growing
· Passing the Torch to the Next Generation
· What I Say to a Young Leader

These messages were so encouraging and timely for our group of leaders. At the end of every service, practically everyone in attendance was coming up for prayer to receive more from God to become a better pastor / leader or they were praying for others.

In addition to the great teachings, the time of worship was incredible, and the time to connect with the community of believers was so encouraging and uplifting both emotionally, and spiritually.

Literally, stepping on the heels of the conference, we had a Dentist team of 10 people from Brasilia. Our house was hustling and bustling to accommodate the team, and the people from the conference. I think we had at 1 time over 20 people staying in our house. The dentist team went to a remote community called Maribel where it took around 5 hours to drive 100 km. We have a church in Maribel and we used the church to serve the people of the community. It was another amazing time of serving the community and helping people with dental needs that otherwise would not be able to get easy access to this care. In the few short days the volunteer dentist team served hundreds of people doing cleanings, repairing cavities, pulling teeth, and repairing teeth. It is amazing what the dentist can do with limited resources. It is an incredible work and we pray the Lord’s continued hand upon them all. It has been a pleasure partnering with our sister church in Brasilia to serve the people, and share Jesus Christ. They will be coming back in September to work with our missionary Richie Bouthillier in Portel.

Alyssa just celebrated her 12^thbirthday on July 4^th. She had been talking about learning an instrument and she wanted to learn the Ukulele. We were able to get one for her recently and she has been playing it so much. She has been watching YouTube videos on her Ipad to learn. We are very excited for her. Camilly, not to be outdone, is starting back with the keyboard. Her cousin Apolana is teaching her. Here is a picture of Camilly with Angelita at the new SpiderMan movie.

Please pray for spiritual, physical, and emotional health for us.

Much love, Steve, Elba, Camilly, and Alyssa

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Jun, 26

XM

June 2019 Newsletter

Dear Friends and Family,

As always, thank you for your prayers and support. They are greatly appreciated.

These last few months have been super busy, very tiring, but tremendously fruitful and fun. It has been great to watch our church continue to grow. We also are continuing to see new people choosing to follow Jesus. And little Jonas is growing and getting around far more easily.

These blessings all bring new challenges. As our church grows and new people choose to follow Jesus, it requires us to develop new systems for pastoral care and the need to train more leaders!

Also, as Jonas grows and gets around more easily, which of course is a joy, our little guy really keeps Denise and me on our toes trying keeping up with him. (We love being parents!)

Just this month, we also had the opportunity to host a team led by my brother JT from our home church, Vineyard Church Delaware County. We had so much fun spending time with the team – and my brother . Their ministry and relational investment were a great blessing to the churches they visited.

The day after the team left, we took a line boat (the equivalent of a Greyhound Bus on the Amazon River) to a city 300 miles away. We are attending Intervinha, the yearly conference for all the Vineyards in Northern Brazil. When we return, we will be ready for some rest!

Below are some pictures of our time from the team from VCDC.

VCDC Team

During our time in Macapá and at Viva Vineyard

Praying for needs around Macapá

We took a line boat to Gurupá

Gurupá Vineyard

Having fun with the team

A few more pics

Prayer Requests:

Please pray for wisdom in pastoring our growing our church.
Pray grace as Denise and I balance ministry and family life.
Pray financial provision for the growing needs of our church and family.

We are looking forward to returning to Ohio for furlough beginning in September. It’s hard to believe it’s been 2 years since we’ve been back. We can’t wait to see many of you then.

Thanks again for your prayers and support. We love hearing from you!

In His Service,

Christopher and Denise

https://xingu.org/opportunities/giving/meyer-ministries/

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